A primary source account of slavery and the formation of the independent African American Episcopal Church in rural western Maryland, the original 1872 was recovered at the Howard University Spingarn Library by Jean Libby in 1977. The social history of Henry's life in slavery and freedom includes a letter from John Brown in 1859 as a "trusty man." He narrowly escaped arrest and fled north . Libby transcribed the narrative from nearly illegible type and documented and illustrated the events over a period of years that included specific university study at the University of California (B.A. 1986) and San Francisco State University (1991). First published by the University Press of Mississippi with a foreword by Edward C. Papenfuse, Maryland State Archivist, copyright assigned to Jean Libby. The reprint edition is scanned from the original and formatted with its original paging, printed and spiral bound in letter-size sheets. An 1830s original drawing of the Antietam Iron Works is contributed to the 2020 reprint edition by the current owners Wayne and Gayle McCrossin of Sharpsburg, Maryland. The National Archives and Records Administration recently published a notice from the African American press of a search by Rev. Thomas Henry for his son Rousbey, or Asberry, sold from Hagerstown in 1838. Original maps and site visits by documentary author Jean Libby make this publication valuable, according to reviews by Library Journal and Cambridge University.